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Reed Richards (Earth-616)
__TOC__ Real Name: Dr. Reed Richards Nicknames: Stretch, Big Brain Former Aliases: Reed Benjamin, The Invincible Man, Doctor Doom Other Current Aliases: None Status Occupation: Scientist, Adventurer Legal Status: Citizen of the United States with no criminal record Identity: Publicly Known Marital Status: Married Group Affiliation: Founding member of the Fantastic Four; Former member of the Avengers Base of Operations: The Baxter Building, Manhattan, New York Origin Origin of character unknown. Place of birth: Central City, California Known Relatives: Nathaniel Richards (Father), Evelyn Richards (Mother; Deceased), Cassandra Richards (Stepmother; Deceased), Susan Storm Richards (Wife), Franklin Richards (Son), Franklin Storm (Father-In-Law; Deceased), Jonathan Storm (Brother-In-Law) First Appearance: Fantastic Four #1 History Reed Richards, the only son of wealthy physicist Nathaniel Richards and his wife Evelyn, was a child prodigy with special aptitude in mathematics, physics, and mechanics. Evelyn died when Reed was seven. Nathanial encouraged and guided young Reed in his scientific studies, and Reed was taking college-level courses by the time he was fourteen. He attended several universities. It was at State University in Hegeman, New York, that Reed Richards first met two of the most important individuals in his life. He was assigned to room with a foreign student, a scientific genius named Victor Von Doom. The imperious Von Doom, taking an immediate dislike to Richards, decided to take other quarters. As Doctor Doom, von Doom would later become Richards’ greatest rival and enemy. Richards instead gained as his roommate former high school football star Benjamin J. Grimm, who became Richards’ closest friend. Richards was already intending to build a starship for interstellar travel. When he told his ambitions to Grimm, Grimm jokingly said that he would pilot the starship for Richards. While attending Columbia University, Richards rented living quarters at the Manhattan boarding house owned by the aunt of a young girl named Susan Storm. Though she was still only a child, no more than twelve years old, Susan fell in love with the older Richards, much to his embarrassment. Three years before Reed Richards tested his starship, his father mysteriously disappeared. In fact, Nathaniel Richards had devised a time machine which he had used to attempt to journey into the future of his own world. However, the machine actually transported him to an alternate Earth with a history considerably different from our own; Reed Richards would be reunited with him while visiting this alternate Earth years later. But, before Nathaniel Richards left his own time, he made arrangements that left two billion dollars to his son. Reed Richards spent most of the money on his project to build and launch his starship. This project, based in Central City, California, received further funding from the federal government. Richards recruited his old friend Ben Grimm, who had become a successful test pilot and astronaut, to pilot the starship. Richards was joined in California by Susan Storm, who was now an adult. Richards and Storm were engaged to be married. Shortly before the starship was to be launched, Richards used his scientific knowledge to defeat the extraterrestrial being Gormuu, who had intended to conquer Earth. Richards’ encounter with Gormuu strengthened his resolve to finish the starship, which he saw as a first step for mankind to defend itself from extraterrestrial threats. However, the federal government then threatened to withdraw its funding from the project. Richards decided to take the starship on a test flight himself before the funding was withdrawn. Grimm was opposed to the idea, warning that the starship's shielding might prove inadequate protection from the intense radiation storms. Nevertheless, Grimm was persuaded to serve as pilot, and Susan Storm and her adolescent brother Johnny insisted on accompanying Richards as passengers. The four friends stole onto the launch facility, entered the starship, and blasted off. They intended to travel through hyperspace in the ship to another solar system and back. However, unknown to Richards, a solar flare caused Earth's Van Allen radiation belts to be filled temporarily with unprecedented, ultra-high levels of cosmic radiation. Since the ship was designed to shield against ordinary levels of radiation, the cabin volume was subjected to to intense cosmic ray bombardment which irradiated the four passengers and wrought havoc on the ship's controls. Pilot Grimm was forced to abort the flight and return to Earth. Once back on Earth, the four passengers discovered that the cosmic radiation had triggered mutagenic changes in their bodies. Reed Richards discovered that he could become malleable and elongate his body at will. Richards convinced the others that the four of them should use their new-found powers for the good of humanity as members of a team he named the Fantastic Four. Richards, who became the team’s leader, named himself Mister Fantastic, while Ben Grimm, Susan Storm, and Johnny Storm named themselves the Thing, the Invisible Girl (later the Invisible Woman), and the Human Torch, respectively. The profits from Richard's patents and royalties funded the teams activities. Under Richards’ leadership the Fantastic Four has become Earth’s most honored team of superhuman adventurers, and has saved the world from conquest or destruction many times. Richards eventually married Susan Storm, and they now have a son, Franklin. After many years, Reed joined his wife in semi-retirement from their superhero career. They tried to raise their son Franklin in a relatively normal environment, but soon, Franklin was kidnapped by the villains Nanny and the Orphan-Maker at the same time that New York was undergoing a demonic invasion. Richards and his wife teamed up with Captain America (then, the Captain) and other heroes to reform the Avengers, which had then recently disbanded. Richards, however, continually disrupted the Avengers' team dynamic with his natural penchant for leadership. Richards and his wife soon left the team and rejoined the Fantastic Four. <--To Be Continued--> Characteristics Height: 6' 1" Weight: 180 lbs Eyes: Brown Hair: Brown with Greying Temples Unusual Features: None Strength Level Mister Fantastic possesses the normal human strength and build of a man of his age, height, and build who engages in moderate regular exercise. Known Powers ;Hyper-Intelligence: Mister Fantastic’s natural mental abilities were greatly augmented by the Cosmic Rays that gave him his powers. ;Plasticity: Mister Fantastic possesses the ability to convert the mass of his entire body into a highly malleable state at will. How his body's respiration and circulatory systems function at these distorted extremes is as yet unknown. Mister Fantastic can alter his form in a matter of seconds, often much less (depending on the complexity of the shape), and revert to his normal humanoid shape within a similar time. The greater the distance he stretches or the more extended the size of the object he becomes, the weaker his overall strength becomes. :;Dense Flesh: Due to the great malleability and elasticity of his molecular structure, Mister Fantastic is able to absorb the impact of any type of man-made ballistic projectile by deforming his body along the path of the projectile's trajectory at the point of initial impact. After his body absorbs the kinetic energy of a ballistic projectile's impact, he can expel the object back along its trajectory by flexing like a trampoline if he is adequately braced. ::*'Contain Explosions' – Mister Fantastic may use his elastic form to contain explosions by enveloping them and allowing their force to expand him. He can enclose and absorb the energy of a large explosive, on the order of 8 to 12 pounds of TNT (excluding exotic, high density explosives). Such shocks to his system are physically exhausting. ::*'Redirect Projectiles' – After his body absorbs the kinetic energy of a ballistic projectile's impact, Mister Fantastic can expel the object back along its trajectory by flexing his body like a trampoline if he is adequately braced. :;Elongation: Mister Fantastic can extend his limbs, torso, or neck to great distances: the maximum length he can distend before his body segments become painful is about 1,500 feet. (Although he can extend discrete body parts, such as a single finger, an ear, or an eye, he seldom if ever isolates such parts in his elongations.) ::*'Grappling' – Mister Fantastic may restrain opponents very efficiently by using his elastic form to entangle them. ::*'Movement' - Mister Fantastic can move at great speeds by stretching to his destination. :;Shape Changing: Mister Fantastic can stretch, deform, expand, or compress his entire body or parts thereof into any contiguous shape he can imagine for a variety of uses: ::*'Imitation' – Mister Fantastic may alter his basic physical features, allowing him to take on the appearance of any other man with similar hair and skin tone. ::*'Canopy, Parachute or Sheath' - Mister Fantastic can extend his body in two directions, creating a canopy, parachute, or sheath, its thickness determined by the extent of its distention. ::**'Gliding' - Mister Fantastic can transform himself into aerodynamic shapes such as parachutes or hang-gliders. In this form he can support an additional 1000 pounds (enough to hold the rest of Fantastic Four). ::**'Cushion' – Mister Fantastic may form his elastic form into a trampoline and other cushion-like objects, allowing him to safely catch falling people and objects. ::**'Sling Shot' – Mister Fantastic may use his elastic form as a slingshot to hurl objects with great force. ::*'Geometric Shapes' - Mister Fantastic has compressed his body into the shape of a solid sphere, a cylinder, a cube, a toroid, and a rectangular prism: he can assume the shape of any solid that he can envision clearly, of a volume no greater than 1.7 cubic feet (a sphere about 18 inches in diameter). He can generate thin-walled shapes that enclose great volumes of space. ::**'Fist Weapons' – Mister Fantastic may form his fists into large hammers, maces…etc, which improve his physical effectiveness in hand-to-hand combat. ::**'Bouncing Ball' - Mister Fantastic can transforming himself into any of a number of resilient shapes, such as balls or springs that allow him to leap or bounce great distances. ::*'Two-Dimensionality' - Mister Fantastic can flatten himself to the thickness of an average sheet of typing paper (.0035 inch) or narrow himself to a diameter small enough to pass through the eye of a #10 beading needle (about .045 x .06 inches). ::*'Infiltration' - Mister Fantastic can lower his body’s cohesion to such an extent that he can actually flow through minute openings. ::*'Open Locks' – Mister Fantastic may form his fingers into various types of keys, allowing him to open most forms of mechanical locks. ::*'Wind Generation' – Mister Fantastic may form his hands into fans, allowing him to generate wind by twirling them at great speeds. :Mister Fantastic's transformation to a malleable state is reflexive and nearly instantaneous: if he was at his normal form and taken unaware by machine gun fire, his body would still absorb the bullets' impact through radical deformation. Mister Fantastic's skin is virtually impervious to laceration or punctures unless he wilfully relaxes his reflexive control over small areas of his body. In that case, scalpels and ordinary needles can penetrate his skin. Abilities ;Scientific Genius: Mister Fantastic is one of the world’s leading experts in Electronics, Physics, and Engineering. He is also one of the few people on Earth to be expert on other dimensions and the methods by which to travel to and through them. Reed’s patents are so valuable that he is able to bankroll the Fantastic Four, Inc., without any undue financial stress. ;Hypnotism: Technological Achievements Weapons & Equipment ;Costume: :;Unstable Molecules: Mister Fantastic's costume, and the rest of his wardrobe, is constructed of unstable molecules, which are attuned to his powers, allowing it to stretch and compress with him. :;Wearable Computer: Mister Fantastic's costume has a complete data processing and telemetry system woven into its fabric on a molecular level, making it a wearable computer. The costume forms a network with the rest of the Fantastic Four, providing a constant, real time uplink of everyone’s physical condition as well as their location and current situation. The costume is capable of displaying data and has touch-pad controls on the gauntlets. Its sensors can track all of the team’s uniforms and provide a picture of their immediate vicinity. The costume has an intricate scanner system which can detect things around the wearer, from how many people are in the next room to what dimension or planet they are on. Mister Fantastic can also up-link his costume to almost any computer by stretching his fingertips to filament size and plugging them in to an I/O data-port. ;Fantasti-Flare: Mister Fantastic normally carries a miniature flare pistol capable of creating a fiery “4�? signal in the sky. Used as a weapon, the incendiary charge will ignite flammable materials. Miscellaneous Reed is an intellectual who prefers to examine foes and if possible negotiate with them before actually fighting them. He is often intrigued by the scientific implications of a problem, so much so that he almost forgets there is a problem in the first place. As Ben once put it, if an alien stubbed his toe, Reed would want to spend ten years studying it. Reed is an extremely likeable fellow who keeps a pleasant smile on his face. However, he does occasionally lapse into depression over long-standing unsolved problems, most notably Ben’s inability to return to human form and Franklin’s mysterious potential. Reed is a humanitarian who will try to prevent any intelligent being from suffering. This can lead him to do controversial things that fly in the face of all apparent logic, such as when he once revived Galactus. Notes * Trivia * Notable Appearances *Fantastic Four #1 - First Appearance and origin *Fantastic Four #10 - Exchanged bodies with Doctor Doom *Fantastic Four #196 - First Appearance (as the Invincible Man) Complete List Related Articles * External Links * References * ---- Category:Characters Category:Living Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Good Characters Category:Public Identity Category:Married Characters Category:Cosmic Ray Exposure Category:Brown Eyes Category:Brown Hair Category:Silver Age Category:Copy Edit Category:Wikify